Whodunnit?
by indigocrimsonblade
Summary: Welcome to Rue Manor, where people were killed, their friends made to solve the murders, and only one will remain. Warnings: Character deaths
1. Cracks: part one

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Whodunnit. This piece of work is purely for the enjoyment of the fans and I am in no way profiting from this (except by being happy and writing and all that stuff).**

**A/N: So, hey! This fanfic is based on the tv show Whodunnit. You don't have to have seen it or know what it is to enjoy this fic, and if you have great. Only the first death will be from the show, the rest are original ideas. And, um, nothing else for now, so enjoy!**

**Note: this fic contains character deaths, OC deaths, and the occasional graphic description. Hopefully, it'll stay appropriate for the T rating, but if not, I'll change it to M.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

Lucy hummed to herself as she scanned the job board. There didn't seem to be anything that she could do herself before the month was over, but she needed to pay rent! One last glance brought up nothing new so she straightened and started to turn to leave, until a piece of paper was slid into her view. Startled, she blinked a few times and stepped back, and her eyes focused on the words.

_Job for the mystery-lovers and intellectuals_

_Reward: Three million jewels_

_Please solve some mysteries for me_

_Location: Rue Manor_

Once she's done reading through it, which doesn't take that long, in all honesty, she turns to look at who procured the paper for her.

"That's all the info it gives," Erza said, "but I thought you might like to take it."

"Really, Erza?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, the rewards nice and you like mysteries, right?"

"Yes! Thank you, Erza, thank you so much!" Lucy stopped herself from squealing at the last second. Erza's a lifesaver, finding this wonderful, fantastic, _superb_ job _for her!_ "But you know, Team Natsu hasn't gone on a mission in a while, why don't we do this together?"

"Eh," the red head smiled sheepishly, "I'm better at fighting you know."

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Lucy nudged her. "It'll be Team Natsu! And the request looks a bit sketchy, so a team would be better, right?"

"Well, I suppose you're right," Erza gave in.

It's not until later that night that Lucy realized how true her statement was, but the next morning they left, so she didn't dwell on it for too long.

* * *

"More?" There was a clamor from inside the mansion when Natsu threw open the doors.

_More? _Lucy thought, but it was quickly explained when at least a dozen other mages, from various guilds, were seen lounging around. She recognized a lot of them: the TriMen from Blue Pegasus; Lyon from Lamia Scale; Beth, Milliana, and Kagura from Mermaid Heel; Baccus from Quatro Puppy- er, _Cerberus_; and Sting, Rogue, Rufus, and Orga from Sabertooth. There also seemed to be four others, whom she didn't recognize. It looked like they all had their insignias in the same place, and covered the same way: with a long sleeve over their left shoulder, but a short right sleeve. The mages were all chatting with each other, their differences more or less (but mostly less) gotten over with after the Grand Magic Games.

Lucy was drawn back into their current situation by an article of clothing landing on the ground next to her. Gray's shirt, and he seemed to be chatting with Lyon. Erza was across the room with the Mermaid Heel girls and Natsu was head-to-head with Sting, so she went to meet the unfamiliar mages.

"Hi, I'm Lucy," she introduced herself cheerfully.

"Alexia," the ginger girl smiled and held out her hand to Lucy, who took it. "And these are my guildmates: Adrian, the blond, and Annie, his sister, the other blonde. This is Armin."

"All a's," said a smiling Lucy.

"Yep, the twins have an excuse, but me and Armin don't," Alexia laughed. "But our team's the A+ team of Phoenix Grave."

"Phoenix Grave? Your guild?"

"Yeah, not really big, huh? But we're getting there! Soon!" Adrian said proudly.

"If by soon you mean after your lifetime," Alexia teased.

"Our guild isn't that weak!" Adrian protested with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I never said we were," Alexia retorted, and Adrian faked a hurt look.

"So you think I'm weak?" The kicked puppy look makes even Lucy laugh. She looked around for Annie and Armin, intending to attempt a conversation with them until she found them talking to Hibiki and Lyon. So she turned back, about to ask to see their guild insignia, when the shattering of glass interrupted them.

Her head whipped around, looking for the source, and she found Beth staring at the broken champagne glass at her feet. A soft ruckus surrounded them, people asking if she's alright, and others started to clean it up.

"_Quiet_." The single word didn't seem to come from any of the mages in the room; perhaps there was someone in another room connected to a loudspeaker lacrima system? Either way, the word seemed to have its intended effect, seeing as everyone obeyed, albeit some a bit later than others.

"_Welcome to Rue Manor. I do indeed hope you enjoy your stay here, however long that will be._" A hooded figure made it way to the center of the room, stepping _through_ whatever was in its way - illusion magic, or a mind projection, perhaps.

Once they reached the center of the room, they took off their hood, revealing yet another unfamiliar face, but an elderly one. He took off the cloak as well, and was wearing a suit underneath. After shaking out his limbs, he took a deep breath and began speaking.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Levi and I shall be your butler for the duration of your stay. We shall reconvene here at the ringing of this bell-" he gestured to the bell being brought in on a cart pushed by two short Asian women, one of whom took the rope dangling from it and rang the bell once, and a low gong reverberated around the room- "And for now, you may wander as you wish. But hurry back to this room once the Rue Manor bell is rung."

He bowed his head and took a step back, "These ladies are Sasha and Zoe, they will lead you to your room now to settle in."

Lucy was one of the first to leave, and she and Erza parted from Natsu and Gray at the top of the stairs, down the opposite hallways. Zoe, or perhaps it was Sasha, gestured silently to each woman's separate room, and Lucy entered hers with a nod, quickly unpacking before moving to Erza's.

Lucy was spread out on Erza's bed, with the rest of her team at other places in the room, talking about nothing and everything, when a loud scream is heard, and the shattering of glass, possibly the sound of falling water. They're all on their feet in a flash, with only a glance at each other before they rush out of the room and hang over the banister, looking down. On both sides of them, the other mages seem to be doing the same thing.

Lucy could hear sounds of surprise, but she was to stunned to register them.

Well, who would blame her, when there's a body below her, the body of someone who looks - and could very well be - Beth from Mermaid Heel?

* * *

The body was lying in a puddle of water, in front of the fish tank, which was shattered. The fish were flopping on the floor next to her – Beth, it turned out – and a sparking wire was at the end of the puddle. There was a bit of blood on her forehead, and two shards of glass sticking out of her face, one at her hairline and the other in her left cheek. Lucy also noticed a few trails of blood on her head, dripping into the plush, but now wet, carpet. She raised her head, to look for Milliana and Kagura, Beth's guild members, but Levi distracted her by stepping into the room.

"My, my, it's started already." Levi sighed, motioning for the mages to step away from the jerking body and the sparking wire next to her. "Please, step back, I wouldn't want you to be electrocuted also. Now, if you could make your way into the library? It's right through those doors, thank you." It took some prodding, but eventually everyone was too shocked to protest, and soon they were all gathered in the adjacent room.

"Now, if you'll all settle down, Zoe and Sasha are cleaning up." After a pause, he continued solemnly, "unfortunately, it looks like one guest will no longer be with us. And _it was no accident. It was murder_. Worse yet, it appears the killer is in _this very room_." A pause, to let this soak in. "The murderer has tasked me to speak on his- or _her_- behalf. And I'm afraid that this is only the beginning." He pulled out something from a pocket. A card, the edges decorated in gold. "I found this slipped under my door. Let me read it."

_Dear guests,_

_Welcome to Rue Manor! My sincerest apologies that I myself may not welcome you._

_You, your guilds, have been specially selected by me to come here to play my game._

_My game of life and death._

_Our dear Beth was first to go, with a blunder like hers, she proved to be an unworthy adversary._

_A poor farmer girl, dropped her glass of the best wine. Tsk._

_Your job is to be the best._

_To discover my identity._

_And in the process, win three million jewels - if you win._

_Only the best out of all of you here, one person will win._

_Now, dear Levi will give you more instructions._

_Good luck! You'll need it, dearest._

"Well." Levi tucked the note back into a pocket. "There will be more deaths," he said gravely. "After each one, you will have to choose one - and _only one_ - of three locations: the last known whereabouts, the scene of death, or the morgue. Each location will provide a different clue to each death, and you will need the clues to put together your case.

"At the end of the week, and there will be one murder every week, or so I am told, you will have to 'plead your case'. That is, you must make your own guess on what happened, the exact details surrounding each death. If the killer finds your explanation to be acceptable, you will be spared. If not… you could be the next to go.

"Right now, take a moment to consider which of the three locations you would like to investigate, and I shall be back soon to hear your answer."

Chaos ensued once Levi stepped out of the room, with people yelling and low whispers. They were freaking. Separating into groups, based on who they trusted.

When Levi returned, order still seemed to be missing, so he raised his voice. "Ladies and gentlemen. If I could have your attention please. Seeing as this is your first day, if you don't choose, I will give you a place to go.

"Now, if you would like to go to the morgue to examine the victim's body, please follow Miss Sasha. If you wish to study the last known whereabouts, the victim's room, Miss Zoe will lead you there. And, lastly, if you wish to see the scene of the crime, I shall be your guide." Lucy found it a bit disturbing, how Beth – a person who they all knew – was now being referred to as a _victim_. How she was even a victim in the first place.

Numbly, she walked quietly to follow Zoe, along with a few others she didn't really care to identify at the moment.

* * *

**A/N: OTL Okay, I'm definitely going to edit this later. But for now, I'd like to hear what you think. Good? Bad? Should I continue? What do you think happened? Is this really confusing? (My apologies, hopefully, the next chapter will clear a lot of things up.) And please pardon the OOCness of it all, maybe we can blame it on the murder? -_-'' OTZ  
**

**Please review? Tell me what you think, what was your favorite part, what was confusing, and I'll do my best to help and improve!**

**Thank you for reading!**

**Edit: 9/10/13**


	2. Cracks: part two

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Whodunnit, nor am I making any money profit from writing this.**

**A/N: I'm so glad you like this! All those reviews made me squeal  
**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Lucy walked into the room quietly, following cautiously behind Armin and Hibiki. Her head tilted slightly as she looked around the perfectly clean room; everything was in order and lined up neatly - not the room she expected of someone who was just... murdered. But, then again, what did she expect anyway? It wasn't as if Beth was aware of her impending demise, right?

"Hey, come take a look at this." Hibiki waved them over, his eyes dark. Lucy felt Milliana brush against her, on her own way to the bathroom, where Hibiki's head was poking out.

"'_Come to the foyer. I have information for you._'" Hibiki read the words lined in red on the mirror. There was a tiny mess on the counter, a cup overturned and a tube of cherry red lipstick fallen on its side.

Lucy turned towards Milliana, whose shaky breaths were audible in the otherwise silent room. She put a hand on the cat-like woman's back, and another on her arm, leading Milliana to the bed to sit down.

"She must have seen this and gone down, trusting a message written on her mirror," commented Armin. His mouth turned down in a frown, "but what happened down there?"

He made his way around the room, Hibiki stayed in the bathroom to examine the clues there.

"It's not working," Rufus said, frustration and anger lacing his tone. His sudden intrusion startled Lucy, him having stayed in the doorway while they were in the bathroom.

"Rufus?" Hibiki poked his head out the bathroom.

"My magic. I can't - it's - I can't use my magic." Rufus's brow creased as he raised to fingers to his temple to try again.

Suddenly realizing that they hadn't tried to use their magic since arriving - not even Natsu when fighting with Sting and Gray, Lucy remembered - she, Hibiki, and Armin each attempted a go at their respective magics. But Lucy couldn't even feel any magic flowing through her veins, much less her keys. It felt strange, as if she was missing some vital part of herself, something should've been flowing through her body - her wrists, her ankles, through her arms and legs, winding around her heart.

But there was nothing there. Her eyes widened as she became frantic, "Open, Gate of the Nicola: Plue!" Summoning Plue consumed the least of her magic, yet not even a golden spark came from the Spirit World. She looked up and meets Hibiki's wide eyes with her own.

"What does this mean?" she whispered.

She was only met with the wide eyed stares of her fellow mages.

* * *

Erza took the lead, following closely behind Sasha, on the way to the morgue, deciding that she could take the blood if it meant her friends didn't have to endure it. Kagura walked only a few steps behind her, head bowed and brow creased. She looked torn, distressed. Sting and Ren were behind them, with Annie and Adrian taking up the rear. They all looked sullen, probably regretting taking on the job.

Sting almost bumped into Kagura when they stopped outside a steel door. Sasha opened it, revealing a big silver room, furnished with what one would expect in a morgue - complete with a body on a table. Beth's body. Kagura turned away, her face shadowed by her hair, pausing for a moment before taking a deep breath, squaring her shoulders, and walking directly to the table. Her gaze, however, was fixated at the corner of the table by Beth's braid.

Erza bowed her head, paying her last respects to Beth before the examination.

"Well," she said after straightening, "Beth seems to have two pieces of glass sticking out from her head, blood trailing from those. No other wounds are apparent... how did she fall forward, then?" She put one hand under Beth's body, one on the other side, preparing to flip her over.

"Stop! What are you doing?" Kagura had a crazed look in her eye, frantic and scared.

Erza turned her head to the side, a brief emotion flashing across her face. "Kagura..."

"You were talking about Beth so... so... emotionless! About Beth!" Her eyes narrowed in anger and grief. "How dare you examine her so mercilessly?"

"Kagura..." Erza said again. "I'm sorry, really, but - "

"Save it! - - Let me go!" She struggled against Sting's hold. She had lunged at Erza, only intending to shut her up.

"Sorry, sorry," he said.

"Kagura," Erza said for the third time, "I'm doing this because we need to do everything we can to make sure we don't die. Right now, all we can do is gather information. I'm - Beth, she was our friend, too, you know."

All Erza received in reply was a glare. And then an outraged squeal, courtesy of Annie dumping a bucket of cold water of Kagura's head.

The others jumped in shock, having not noticed the blonde leaving. The faucet in the corner was dripping, probably where she got the water from, though the bucket's source was unknown.

Kagura blinked, and Sting let go to sigh over his own wet shirt.

"Oh... Erza... I'm... uh, I'm sorry..." Kagura seemed to curl inside herself, though remained standing. She hadn't thought that it was Erza, or what to do if she had actually gotten her hands around the red head's throat. She had only lunged for her, out of instinct.

"It's alright, let's continue. We'll be done quickly and you can go check to make sure Milliana's okay. I think she went to Beth's room with Lucy, so she should be fine," Erza let out a soft smile, "Ren, Adrian, if you would?"

The two men nodded and worked - well, stumbled - together in an attempt to examine Beth's back.

"There seems to be some... some sort of ball in the base of her neck..." Annie muttered. She reached for the tweezers to take it out, and twirled it around in the air for the others to see. It was a small rock, about the size of a grape, lodged in the nape of Beth's neck. Annie put the rock down gently on the table before examining the rest of the body.

Upon finding no other wounds, she straightens and they all file out, led by Sasha, back to the common room.

* * *

The others had decided to survey the foyer, the scene of the crime. Natsu, his ever present Exceed companion Happy, Gray, Baccus, Orga, Rogue, Eve, Lyon, and Alexia spread out across the room. Natsu and Happy staring quizzically at the fish tank and water puddle; Baccus moving around the room like Orga, waiting for something to catch their eyes; Rogue making his rounds, but looking more closely at things; Eve and Alexia the first to find the broken windowpane.

It was, simply, broken, cracked as if something had shattered it, though the hole wasn't very large. There was also glass glittering on the floor near the gap, supposedly the broken window.

"Something crashed through the window, hitting her. The force pushed her head into the fish tank, cracking it and letting the water out. So it flooded. But what about the wire? Was she electrocuted or did the force of the crash kill her?" Alexia mused quietly.

"Both?" Lyon offered, pointing toward the rogue wire connected to the wall. It was still sparking, and Natsu seemed to have went off to the side because of it and was now arguing with Gray - only, they weren't arguing. More like having a very serious conversation.

Rogue seemed to be able to hear it, with his dragon slayer abilities, and there was a rare look on his face. Bewilderment, then fear, before it finally reverted back to its original blank slate.

"Oi, Gray, what's happening?" Lyon called out from across the room.

The ice make mage glances at Natsu before turning to his former senpai. "We can't use our magic. It's just - gone. But we're not dead."

The house seemed to creak a little louder, shift a bit more ominously at this new revelation. And, just like with Lucy's group, all they could do was stare at each other and come up with their own theories and accusations as to why they couldn't use magic, why they were invited to this cursed Rue Manor, and why, _why _they were going to die _one by one_.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so very much to everyone who's reviewed/favved/followed, it really means a lot to me~ :)  
**

**Guest: Ah, thanks, I edited it a bit, hopefully it's better now~**

**dumpling1234: Thank you~~ did you like this chapter?**

**Thank you for reading! I know this is a bit confusing, so you can ask if you have any questions!**

**((And an apology for dragging this out so much, I think the next few chapters will be longer :3))**


	3. Cracks: part three

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Whodunnit**

**A/N: Okay. I'm sorry, I think I should be acquainted with this thing called "writing regularly".  
**

* * *

**Chapter 3: High Voltage: part 3  
**

The mages were gathered once again in the library, shifting restlessly while waiting for Levi. The moment he walked in, a barrage of questions were directed at him, the gist of it being, "Why can't we use magic here?"

After a few moments, spent trying to get the loud ones to _shut the hell up_, Levi got around to explaining. "The killer, somehow, knew that if you could use magic, you'd tear this house down. So they set up barriers to disable the use of any type here other than the ones set up to watch and take care of you. and, before you start speaking again, I have another message for you." This time, Levi pulled out yet another lacrima and instructed it to start playing. The voice that came out of it was composed of several different voices, and, if you listened closely, you could hear Beth's voice mixed in among the others.

_I hope you haven't been too scarred, Kagura-chan._

_After all, it can't be easy looking upon your precious friend's empty body._

Erza felt Kagura stiffen at her side.

_Haha, well, if it makes you feel any better, your other friend won't be next to die._

_Milliana-chan, I believe?_

This time, it was Milliana who responded, letting out a soft meow.

_Talk among yourselves to prepare you cases. What do you think happened?  
_

_Sasha will come get you when it's your turn to state your case._

_Then you may lounge around, if you wish._

_And tonight, _

_Tonight, we'll have a feast to celebrate your lives._

_Dress fancy now!_

_Ja!_

Levi promptly spun around on one heel and left, just as quickly as he had come in, leaving the guests in a state of befuddlement.

"Lucy, you went to the last known whereabouts, right?" Erza immediately turned to ask. At her lead, the others started discussing with each other what they discovered. But, it was noticed, they all seemed to stick within their guilds, only talking to the people they deemed trustworthy.

"Yeah, someone wrote on Beth's mirror: _Come to the foyer, I have information for you._" Lucy kept glancing around, frustrated at how they, her friends, were all separated. It would be so much easier to just share everything, right?

"We didn't find much in the morgue, other than a small rock lodged in the base of her neck. Natsu, Gray?" Erza shook her head slightly at lucy, telling her not to bother going up to the others.

"There's a hole in the window, blood on the floor, and a shattered fish tank. But there was also a rogue wire sparking at the edge of the puddle. Beth could have been electrocuted or concussed," Gray said, glaring at Natsu.

"This is so confusing!" Natsu exclaimed, shouting to the ceiling.

* * *

"You, dear killer, are a very twisted person, let me just say that."

"Gathering everyone here, just to kill us. Why?"

"Here's what happened..."

"You wrote her a message on her mirror, while she was in the shower, right? The tub was wet and the lipstick smear seemed off."

"I don't know, you must've stood outside just watching and waiting for her."

"She looked around, but nobody was in the room. She failed to see you outside."

"And you just shot her."

"How you got her to stand directly in front of the fish tank, I don't know. Maybe that was a fluke."

"Sting..."

"Rogue..."

"Annie..."

"Armin..."

"Rufus..."

"Alexia..."

"... I know you're the killer."** ***

* * *

Lucy took a deep breath, checking her reflection one last time in the mirror before going across the hall to Erza's room to walk down together.

"You ready?" She asked.

"Oh, Lucy. Yeah, let's go." Erza looked beautiful in her dark dress, with her hair up and a large necklace.

"Whoa..." Sting groaned, "Rogue, why do all of them have to dress up so much?" He must have been talking about the women, considering he was wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, and the females were dressed up in nice dresses and jewelry.

"Ah-hah! Erza-chan you look pretty," Baccus slurred.

"Seriously, already drunk?" Erza sighed, sitting in the chair with her name tag, which was, thankfully, far away from Baccus' seat.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen," Levi opened the door, making sure Sasha and Zoe were in the room with the drink trays before letting them close behind him. "Before you enjoy your dinner, I have cards. From the killer. That say what your fate is. But first, there is one person who really impressed them: Hibiki. Congratulations. You are spared. Now, here's what really happened..." He started reading off the card in his hand:

As you know, I wrote on Beth's wall. And, yes, while she was in the shower.

Immediately afterward, I went downstairs and set up a cut wire, making sure she would see it when she came down.

Then I rushed outside and grabbed my slingshot and pouch of stones, in case I missed.

Fortunately, I have impeccable aim from doing this as a child and the rock hit her smack on her spinal cord, at the base of her neck.

The blow was lethal. Instant death, though perhaps to her the pain seemed to stretch out.

The force of the blow pushed her into the tank, where she was standing to examine the wire, and she broke it and the water pushed her back.

The wire just served as a distraction, though those flops were quite frightening.

A warning, my friends:

This was only the first death. Get smarter, or you'll be the next to die.

The others aren't guaranteed to be this easy of a case.

Good luck.

One by one, the envelopes were passed out, though most of the mages were in shock from the note.

Levi glanced around, looking for someone who seemed to be on this earth. "Ah, Rogue. Will you reveal your card for us?"

Silently, Rogue complied, taking out and flipping the card around to reveal the word _Spared _in loopy black handwriting.

One by one, others were snapped out of their trance and made to reveal their cards.

Annie - _Spared_

Lyon -_ Spared_

Ren_ - Spared_

Armin -_ Spared_

Milliana_ - Spared_

Gray -_ Spared_

Natsu and Happy_ - Spared_

Armin_ - Spared_

Rufus_ - Spared_

Kagura -_ Spared_

Eve_ - Spared_

Alexia_ - Spared_

Erza - _Spared_

Orga -_ Spared_

Baccus - _Scared_

This is the first Scared card, and the word is written in the same loopy print, only the ink is red and there are splotches of red on the card. Baccus is slightly tipsy, but enough for him to laugh it off. But glances are still exchanged around the table.

Lucy -_ Spared_

Sting _- Scared_

Sting is rightfully scared, though, and Rogue seems alarmed as well, for his friend's life.

* * *

Baccus slowly lowers himself down onto his bed. He's mostly sure that he can fight off any one who tries to attack him. (He doesn't get drunk or even tipsy so easily. Not from only a few glasses of wine, he out-drank even Cana before, after all. He was perfectly aware of his Scared card.) But the idea of death is still frightening, and accompanied by the lack of magic in his veins, that eerie feeling, is positively _terrifying._

* * *

"I can sleep in your room if you want company," Rogue said. He didn't sound particularly emotional, though Sting knew him much better.

"Go back, you need a bed and I'm not giving mine up. I can fight off any one. Now go to sleep, I'm tired." Sting buries under his blanket, waiting for the click of the door closing. Once it does, and he can hear Rogue's door also closing, he lays awake in bed, having lied to get Rogue to leave. Even as a Dragon Slayer, a very powerful mage, the title holds no meaning if he can't use the magic. It's... scary.

* * *

Sting and Baccus lay awake, jumping at every noise and the adrenaline pumping through their system making their senses even stronger. Eventually, they pass out from the stress and tiredness of that day.

One of them don't wake up the next morning.

* * *

***This is dialogue, you can imagine who's saying the different lines, it's totally up to you. But this is the general gist/collection of their cases, while they're stating their case.**

**A/N: I... I'm evil... Sorry for the difference in my writing, I wanted to cry writing the end. I was listening to sad music. My fic doesn't exactly follow the procedure in Whodunnit, so sorry if you were expecting that. And it doesn't flow very well. I think I'm losing my touch. If I even had a touch in the first place -_-" and my updating is horribly spontaneous, sorrrryyyyy.  
**

**On a lighter note, does anyone watch/read Prince of Tennis? I'm thinking of posting a collection of drabble/one-shots to here. Ah, whatever. Okay, to make up for my horrible updating habits, I'm going to write a couple of one-shots as "fillers" for when I don't update. They'll be updated seperately and not in the Whodunnit-verse, but they'll be there to read... eventually.**


	4. High Voltage: part one

**Disclaimer: See chapter three. Or two. Or, to be a rebel, ONE.**

**A/N: My feels have pretty much died and will be killed once they have been respawned this week, due to TFioS, SnK, and Free!. So, I have no idea how this chapter will turn out. Probably very crack/angst-y. #oh the crack references  
**

* * *

"Sting!" The white dragon slayer was welcomed at the table with joyful shouts.

He himself looked shaken, but relived. Understandably, considering it's not everyday you escape death's grasp. Rang the doorbell and ran.

"Then... Baccus..." The voice is muted, it could've come from anyone at the table. And just like that, Sting's high from simply being alive is dulled.

For a moment, up until Levi opened the door, you could hear a pin drop in the dining room.

"Hm... I thought..." Levi was muttering to himself, but looked up and started when he saw that all eyes were on him. "Good morning...?"

"Morning," came the half-hearted reply.

Then, "Levi, let us out!"

"Two of us have died already! Who's next?"

"Why us?"

"Aigoo, settle down, SHUT FACE!" Levi's eyes were on fire, not literally, but he was _mad_. "I am not responsible for this, and I'm telling you everything I know already. Okay? I don't like this situation any more than you do, but no one gets out of this house alive until the others are dead. It's set that way. You'll see what I mean later today.

"Now that we're all _quiet_. Breakfast will be served. Eat well, you have a long day ahead of you." With that, he swooshed out and let Sasha and Zoe in with the trays.

"I-I'm not hungry," Milliana said quietly. She hunched her shoulders and sat still with her head bowed.

"Milliana, eat," Kagura demanded.

Erza shot a worried look over to the cat-woman and exchanged glances with Kagura. She sighed wearily and stood up. "I'm going back to my room, do you want to come, Milliana?"

"Er-chan... I'll come. Thanks." She stood up shakily and bowed repeatedly as she left behind Erza.

They left a silence that no one wanted to break behind. And breakfast ended with only the soft clanging of forks and spoons on plates, pushing the food around, not eating.

* * *

"Welcome to day two of Rue Manor. Unfortunately, today is not even close to the last day here in this wretched place. Before I say anything else, I'd like to apologize for my outburst earlier... Moving on, Baccus was killed in his sleep, yes? His body has been moved to the morgue for a group of you to examine. The last known whereabouts is the kitchen, and the scene of death is his bedroom. I will give you one minute to decide where to go. Choose wisely."

* * *

"Erza-san, I have a favor to ask," Kagura said. "Would you accompany me and Milliana to the kitchen?"

Erza looked at Kagura curiously for a second, and Kagura gestured to Milliana, with her head down and hunched shoulders. Immediately, Erza got it. She nodded, saying, "Of course. I was planning on that anyway, Lucy and Natsu are going to the morgue and Gray is going to the crime scene."

"Thank you," Kagura said with a sigh.

"No problem. She's my friend, too, you know, and I'm worried about her." Erza changed her gaze to the cat like woman when they got closer. "Milliana, how are you?"

"Good," she replied shakily, "thank you, Er-chan."

"Mh. Let's go then," she gestured to Sasha, who was waiting for them to join the rest of the group.

The walk to the kitchen was very quiet, no one was tempted to talk. The doors were opened with a creak, revealing the messy kitchen. It wasn't very surprising, but not exactly unexpected either.

Well, there were glasses lined up on the table. Baccus was a big drinker. But there was also a splattering of glass, a dark puddle and maybe vomit on the floor, and a couple of things knocked over on the counter top. There could've been a struggle, but it seemed more to be a drunkard stumbling around than anything else.

Slowly, the mages - if they could still be called that - entered, almost as if they were afraid that whatever had killed Baccus would get them too.

Annie and Adrian circled the island, looking at one spot by the line of wine glasses and the bottle of From the Vine wine intently.

"Hey, guys," Annie said, not looking up from the table, "come here." Once they had all complied and were gathered around the table, Adrian continued.

"Don't touch anything, do you see this yellow-ish powder? You have to look really closely. Whatever you do, _do not touch or smell it. Do not taste it, do not get close to it_. It's probably poison. I don't know enough about the colors of poison to tell, but I remember reading a list of the top ten most deadly poisons and arsenic was number two. One of the forms it comes in is yellow solid crystalline."

"So you think Baccus was poisoned?" Eve asked.

"Yes."

"Someone could have slipped it into the bottle, effectively ensuring that Baccus would drink it when he came down at night," Annie confirms.

"That- that's horrible," Milliana whispered hoarsely. On either side of her, Erza and Kagura look distinctly uncomfortable, both making the decisions to hug the younger woman at the same time. It soon became a group hug, someone bringing Adrian and Annie into the huddle, too. They stayed like that for a while, until it was time to leave. They were still a family, after all, even if one of them was a murderer and two had died. They shared one fate: death.

* * *

"At least there's more to work with than Beth's room," Alexia said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. Instead, she got glares or glances thrown her way, and she wondered why she even tried. Not everybody thought like she did, after all, not everybody can understand her train of thought, even when she herself can't sometimes.

But, there was some truth to her words. Baccus' bed was messed up, obviously slept in and there was throw-up on the floor in this room, too. A dim yellow mixture of food and purple, soaking the plush carpet and emitting a sour stench. Hibiki pointed out a trail linking the restroom and bed, widely spread lines of dragged feet. The places where his feet supported his weight were obvious, the carpet pressed down and dark. Baccus had made several trips to the toilet and slept fitfully - if he even fell asleep at all.

"I guess he had an upset stomach," Alexia noted before turning her head and dry heaving, trying her best to keep the bile down. Nobody found this funny in the least either.

* * *

"The morgue," Levi announced, opening the door with a bow.

Gray nodded to the butler as he passed, distracted by Baccus' swelled and pale body.

There was a sheet of paper - a form of some sort - lying next to him that Armin immediately picked up and read.

"Poisoning," he said simply. "That's all it says. He died from some sort of poison." The paper shifted in his hand, revealing another sheet under.

"Hm?" Sting picked it up off the floor, where it had drifted down after Armin had failed to catch it.

"'Symptoms: swelling, pale skin, garlic breath, blood in urine in system, alcohol in his system, alcohol poisoning, possible excessive sweating, saliva found in mouth postmortem'," Gray read from over Sting's shoulder. "'Poison symptoms: Cyanide - almond scent, se-"

Orga had taken the sheet, unwilling to hear Gray drone on about poisoning more. After scanning it, he said, "The symptoms listed compare the most to arsenic."

"So Baccus died because he was poisoned by arsenic? But wouldn't the killer be dead too?"

"Yeah. Maybe it was alcohol that killed him and some dud was placed to make it seem like Arsenic?" Gray suggested.

"It could be anything, really," Armin corrected. "But one way to tell who it is would be to look for swelling of the hands."

"Look for someone with a swelled hand?"

"Or pale. A fat or pale, or both, hand."

* * *

"Arsenic," Lucy said.

"Probably, but Armin suggested alcohol poisoning," Gray told her.

"Sounds plausible, if Baccus hadn't lived life perpetually drunk," Erza scoffed sadly. She did remember those fights with Baccus, good natured of course, to maybe finally decide who was stronger. They had come to a stalemate every time, or one or the other was distracted and had lost because of that. They were equal in strength.

"Yeah, so arsenic," Gray said.

Natsu and Happy hadn't said a word the whole day, going around with their arms crossed and not paying much attention to their surroundings. They seemed to be in deep thought, deep enough to walk into walls. Multiple times.

* * *

"Here's what happened. You opened a bottle of wine and slipped poison into it, knowing that Baccus would definitely come fore a drink."

"And drink he did, setting up a line of ten glasses, with one broken on the floor."

"He threw up, then stumbled up to his room."

"He wouldn't stop vomiting, probably a result of the excess alcohol in his system."

"And he died. There, in his room, with no one to witness it."

"You are one sick person, I've said it twice and I'll say it for the rest of my days."

"Armin..."

"Alexia..."

"Rogue..."

"... Kagura..."

"I... I don't know who you are, but..."

"Why in the world would you do this?"

* * *

"Congratulations, Armin. You've been spared by the killer," Levi said this with a legit smile. Or at least the hint of one. "Here's what really happened:

_Baccus is a damn fool. I set up a bottle and thirteen glasses for him and, not suspecting anything, he drank._

_Cracked one of my favorite drinking glasses, too._

_I think this one was definitely too easy. The only people to guess different-_

_... well, you'll see._

_Baccus did not, in fact, die from alcohol poisoning, though that was fun to watch._

_I think he'd have died from it long ago if he could've._

_It was arsenic. I even gave you a sheet! How could you have missed it!_

_Can I just tell you who's next to die?_

_This isn't fun anymore, you guys are so idiotic!_

_I'll make a mass murder if I have to!  
_

_At your current levels, I could get away with killing all of your masters and no one here would suspect a thing._

_Except maybe Hibiki and Armin._

_Possibly a few of the other, smarter ones._

_But the rest of you are dead._

_One. Last. Chance._

_This next death could possibly be the easiest of them all and whoever gets it wrong will die._

_It doesn't matter how many of you guess wrong._

_Dead. All dead._

The simple insanity of this message leaves them all in shock and fear.

* * *

Sting: Spared

Alexia: Spared

Lucy: Spared

Annie: Spared

Natsu, Happy: Spared

Lyon: Spared

Milliana: Spared

Hibiki: Spared

Gray: Spared

Rogue: Spared

Erza: Spared

Ren: Spared

Orga: Scared

Eve: Spared

Kagura: Spared

Rufus: Spared

Adrian: Scared

* * *

The residents of Rue Manor woke in the middle of the night to a scream and pitch-black darkness. The power had cut off and another one had died.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so it was only the first part... Makes sense, this took me a while to write.  
**

**Who do you think died? Orga or Adrian? How? **

**Comments, questions, concerns?**


End file.
